Pausanias Analysis

A little higher up is the enclosure of the wall of Lycosura, where there dwell but few inhabitants. Of all the cities the earth has shown upon the mainland and on islands, Lycosura is the oldest; this city was the first that the sun saw, and from it humans learned how to establish the remaining cities.

To the left of the sanctuary of Despoina is Mount Lykaion; some Arcadians call this peak also Olympos, and others name it the Holy Peak. They say that Zeus was nurtured on this mountain, and there is a region on Lykaion called Cretea—this Cretea lies to the left of the grove sacred to Apollo, surnamed Parrhasios. The Arcadians maintain that it is this place called Cretea, rather than the island of Crete, which is referred to in the Cretan tradition as the place where Zeus was nurtured, and accordingly they dispute the island’s claim.

The names given to the Nymphs, who are said to have nurtured Zeus, are Thesoa, Neda, and Hagno. From Thesoa a city was founded in Parrhasia; in my day Thesoa is a village belonging to the territory of Megalopolis. From Neda the river has taken its name; and from Hagno comes a spring on Mount Lycaeus whose waters flow like the river Ister, maintaining the same volume in winter as in the summer season.

If drought persists for a long time, when their crops and trees begin already to wither in the ground, the priest of Zeus Lycaeus prays to the water, performs the sacrifices appointed by custom, and then lowers an oak branch upon the surface—not into the depths—of the spring. Once the water has been stirred, a vapor resembling a mist rises up; after lingering a short while, this mist becomes a cloud and, drawing other clouds toward itself, causes rain to fall upon the land of the Arcadians.

On Mount Lykaion, there is a sanctuary of Pan with a grove of trees surrounding it, a hippodrome, and in front of it a stadium; in ancient times, the Lycaean Games were held here. There are also here pedestals for statues, although the statues themselves no longer exist. An elegiac inscription on one of these pedestals states that the statue was of Astyanax, and that this Astyanax was descended from the lineage of Arkas.

Mount Lykaion also provides other wonders, and especially the following. There is a sanctuary there dedicated to Zeus Lykaeus, into which no human being is permitted to enter. If someone disregards this prohibition and enters, he inevitably cannot live beyond a year. Yet another marvel is said concerning this sacred precinct: everything within it—both animals and people alike—is said to cast no shadow. For this reason, if an animal flees into the precinct, the hunter does not dare to pursue it there. Standing outside the boundary and watching the animal, he notices that it casts no shadow at all. During the period when the sun passes through Cancer in the heavens, at Syene, which lies south of Egypt toward Ethiopia, neither tree nor creature casts a shadow; but the sanctuary on Mount Lykaion experiences this phenomenon continuously and in all seasons.

On the highest peak of the mountain there is a mound of earth, the altar of Zeus Lycaeus, from where most of the Peloponnese can be seen. In front of the altar stand two columns, positioned toward the rising sun; upon these were originally placed gilded eagles, made in even earlier times. Upon this altar they sacrifice offerings to Zeus Lycaeus in secret. It was not pleasing to me to inquire closely about the details of this sacrifice; let it remain as it is, and as it was from the beginning.

On the eastern slopes of the mountain there is a temple of Apollo surnamed Parrhasios; they also give him the title Pythios. Each year they hold a festival in the god's honor, at which they sacrifice a boar in the agora to Apollo Epikourios; after performing this sacrifice, they immediately carry the victim to the temple of Apollo Parrhasios, accompanied by a flute-player and a solemn procession. There they cut out the thigh-bones and burn them, and there too they consume the meat of the sacrificial animal.

They hold these customs thus. North of Mount Lycaeus lies the territory of Theisoa, and the inhabitants there especially honor the nymph Theisoa. Through the country of Theisoa flows the river Mylaon, which empties into the Alpheius. Tributaries of Mylaon are the Nous, the Acheloüs, the Celadus and the Naliphus. Besides this Acheloüs in Arcadia, there are two other rivers of the same name, both better known and more frequently mentioned.

Indeed, Homer in the Iliad said that the Achelous river, flowing toward the Echinades islands through Acarnania and Aetolia, is leader over all rivers. However, he created another Achelous, flowing from Mount Sipylus; both this river and Mount Sipylus were added to the account of Niobe. There is also yet a third river called by the name Achelous around Mount Lycaeus.

To the right of Lycosura are mountains called Nomia, and there is a sanctuary there dedicated to Pan Nomios; the place itself they name Melpeia, for they say it was there that the melody of Pan's pipe was first discovered. That the mountains were named Nomia after Pan's pasturings is indeed the simplest conjecture, but the Arcadians themselves assert that the name comes from a nymph.